Adeniyi Tasks Senior Customs Officers on Discipline, Internal Reform at 2025 CGC Conference

Adeniyi Tasks Senior Customs Officers on Discipline, Internal Reform at 2025 CGC Conference

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday, November 20, 2025, commenced the 2025 Comptroller-General of Customs’ Conference in Abuja with a strong message from the Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi, urging senior officers to confront internal weaknesses affecting the Service’s efficiency.

Held at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, the conference is designed to chart strategic pathways for improved operations within the Service. This year’s edition is themed “Building Future Partnerships: Lessons from the Customs-PACT Conference.”

Declaring the conference open, Adeniyi said the NCS must now replicate the discipline, coordination, and strategic clarity that delivered the successful Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (C-PACT) Summit in its internal operations. He noted that only a day prior, the Service had concluded a major continental engagement that attracted Customs leaders and private-sector players from across Africa.

“You can’t sustain external credibility without internal integrity,” Adeniyi warned. “Turn the mirror inward and force honest discussions about what is working, what is failing and what must change.”

The CGC explained that the conference theme was chosen to reflect the key principles behind the success of the C-PACT Summit—coordination, unified messaging, disciplined execution—and integrate them into the Service’s long-term operational culture.

Recounting the build-up to the international summit, Adeniyi revealed that the Service held weekly coordination meetings for 16 consecutive weeks, consistently aligning with AfCFTA’s objectives, resolving conflicts quickly, and maintaining a unified front “because failure was not an option with the world watching.”

The two-day programme will include panel discussions, in-depth presentations, and open conversations where, according to the CGC, ideas will take precedence over rank, ensuring that meaningful reforms are informed by collective insight.